Our Mission We are a Chicago based theater collective dedicated to telling stories about the SWANASA community. SWANASA is an English-language acronym referring to the South West Asia, North Africa, and South Asia region. Medina is the Arabic word for City. We are creating a City of SWANASA artists who are celebrating our heritage, taking back the narrative and telling our own stories, in our own words, on our own terms. We, the artists of this collective, recognize the importance of the unique and vast perspectives which make up our artistic communities. SWANASA identities are not defined by any one race, religion, ethnicity or expression and we aim to amplify and embrace our differences through our work and community outreach. While Medina Theater Collective prioritizes SWANASA plays and voices, we also have a commitment to uplifting stories of all marginalized communities, particularly if an event or situation requires immediate attention and/or action. Black Lives Matter! We stand in solidarity with the Black community, and call for an end to Institutional racism that is woven into all aspects of American society. We demand an end to police brutality. While the SWANASA community has been deeply impacted by the systems of racism and colonization that uphold white supremacy, we acknowledge that SWANASA communities have internalized some of these same racist values and practices which perpetuate anti-Black racism and Colorism within them. We also recognize the ways that we have profited and benefited from these same systems of oppression as a community and have a commitment to educate, heal and uproot internalized racist beliefs and practices. We stand with our Black, Indigenous, and People of color family, and we intend to use this platform to educate, uplift and work to dismantle systemic racism. Land Acknowledgement While Medina Theater Collective does not occupy a singular space, we recognize that we live and work on stolen, Native land. We acknowledge the original inhabitants and caretakers of this land: The Potawatomi, Kaskaskia, Miami, Peoria, Kickapoo, Ojibwe, and Odawa people who have been forcibly removed from their native land for centuries. We encourage you to research what native land you occupy and and to acknowledge that this land has been and remains to be home to over 100,000 tribal members. You can read more about land acknowledgement and find out what land you occupy on https://native-land.ca |